Juliet Bravo

1 9 8 0 – 1 9 8 5 (UK)
88 x 50 minute episodes

This British police drama series was created by the prolific Ian Kennedy Martin (creator of The Sweeney) and revolved around a newly promoted female police Inspector called Jean Darblay, whose radio call sign was “Juliet Bravo”.

Jean (Stephanie Turner, pictured above) created waves when she took over a small-town police station in the fictional town of Hartley, Lancashire – an amalgam of bits of Burnley, Nelson, Bacup and other east Lancashire cotton towns with chunks of the surrounding moorlands thrown in, although the real-life Bacup police station (now converted into flats) stood in for the fictional Hartley police station.

Jean Darblay was a career copper and housewife who battled against sexism from the start.

Her arrival in Hartley was greeted with distrust and resentment from her fellow officers – especially the obnoxious CID mob – but she rapidly earned respect, enjoying particular support from her solid, dependable sergeants, George Parrish (Noel Collins), and the likeable chicken-keeping Joe Beck (David Ellison), as well as her husband, Tom (David Hargreaves), a social worker.

After three seasons, Darblay was promoted upstairs and replaced by Kate Longton (Anna Carteret, pictured below), who kept the police call sign that gave the show its title.

Cosy and reassuring, with an emphasis on human drama rather than sensational crime, Juliet Bravo proved particularly popular with female viewers, reaching an audience of around 17 million at its peak.

The series was finally cancelled in 1985. The final episode ended on a melancholy note with the death of young regular character PC Danny Sparks (Mark Botham), who was knocked unconscious while investigating a batch of stolen Christmas trees and succumbed to smoke inhalation when the building subsequently caught fire.

Inspector Jean Darblay 
Stephanie Turner
Tom Darblay
David Hargreaves
Sgt Joseph Beck 
David Ellison
Sgt George Parrish 
Noel Collins
PC Roland Bentley 
Mark Drewry
Inspector Kate Longton 
Anna Carteret
DCI Logan 
Tony Caunter
PC Brian Kelleher 
C J Allen
DCI Mark Perrin 
Edward Peel
PC Danny Sparks
Mark Botham

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